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Marine who urinated on corpses in Afghanistan dies

Associated Press – updated Friday, August 15, 2014 - 10:03pm

RALEIGH, N.C. — The attorney for a retired Marine who pleaded guilty to urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters says the corporal has died in North Carolina.

Attorney Guy Womack said Friday that Cpl. Robert Richards died Wednesday at his home in Jacksonville. Womack says he suspects a change in medicine caused the death. Richards was taking medicine for numerous injuries. He was 28.

Womack says neither foul play nor suicide is suspected.

Richards was a sergeant who was demoted to corporal in August 2013 after a video was shared on YouTube, showing him and three other Camp Lejeune Marines urinating on the bodies of three Afghans in July 2011.

Womack called him a hero and says Richards made a mistake during his third tour in Afghanistan.

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